


On With the Show

by HighlyOpinionatedNerd



Category: One Piece
Genre: Circus AU!!!, Exotic Animals, ahead you'll find platonic bonding, and more! : ), and some other people!, contains Author's Ending, daring feats of both agility and bravery, great costumes, set during the Great Depression, the disruption of societal norms, tried to be as historically accurate as possible without disrupting the plot, whoooo I'm excited to finally post this, with all ten members of the crew!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-03-25 20:48:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13842759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighlyOpinionatedNerd/pseuds/HighlyOpinionatedNerd
Summary: America, early 1930's: the Great Depression is in full swing, and the economy is at a lower point than it ever has been before. In the midst of such troubled times, the circus is a haven for anyone who's a little too different to fit in easily with the rest of society. Be they freaks, runaways, or outcasts, all are welcomed in Roger's Flying Safari Circus.





	1. A Runaway's Request

Sanji walked quickly through the dark city streets, his eyes occasionally flicking nervously over his shoulder. But there was no one following him. In fact, there was hardly anyone on the street at all.

A cold, mid-November wind blew from the north, scattering a few loose sheets of newspaper across the sidewalk. Sanji wrapped his arms tightly around himself, shivering.He wished absently that he’d thought to grab a coat before storming out of the house. Now that the initial wave of rage had started to wear off a bit, he was starting to have second thoughts. But he supposed it was too late to change his mind now.

He kept walking until he made it out of the city, past all the quiet and darkened buildings, into the open space beyond. There were a couple of tents pitched a little ways away. The area was illuminated by dancing firelight, and he could hear talk and laughter coming from that general direction.

Sanji dropped his hands back to his sides, straightening up self-consciously as he approached. He still had some measure of dignity to lose, after all. Or, he wondered, did the fact that he was here in the first place mean that he had already hit rock bottom?

“Hey,” a voice called out suddenly, startling him. He stopped short and glanced around, searching for the source in the dark.

“Up here,” the voice said, directing his attention to a tree just outside the circle of tents. Up in one of the branches sat two boys, probably about Sanji’s age. One was waving to him, grinning. His companion, darker-skinned and wary-eyed, watched him nervously.

Sanji cleared his throat and tried to look more confident than he felt. “Um, this is the circus’ camp, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” the smiling boy responded. His sticking-out ears and messy hair reminded Sanji of a monkey he’d seen in a zoo once. “Why, you looking for someone particular?”

“No, no, I…Actually, I was wondering if I could, uh, join you. I want to join you.”

“Oh, ok, sure!”

Sanji blinked in surprise. He hadn’t expected it to be that easy. “Um, really?”

“Yeah, Luffy,” the dark boy said quietly, not taking his eyes off Sanji. “We don’t know this guy. Maybe we should wait and-”

“C’mon, Usopp, don’t be like that.” The smiling boy- Luffy, his friend had called him- nimbly leapt down from the tree branch and landed lightly in front of Sanji. “This circus is supposed to be a safe place. He says he wants to come along, good enough for me.”

“Ugh, fine.” Usopp also jumped down from the tree, stumbling a little but recovering with a graceful, sweeping motion of one arm. “Let’s take him to Robin though, before anything else. See what she says.”

“Yeah, ok. I’m Luffy, by the way,” he said, extending a hand and offering another smile.

“Pleasure,” Sanji muttered, shaking Luffy’s hand. “I’m Sanji.”

“That’s Usopp. Don’t worry, he’s friendlier once you get to know him.”

“‘Sup.”

“Hello.” Sanji nodded in Usopp’s direction, trying to keep his teeth from chattering. Neither of the others seemed much bothered by the cold.

“This way,” Luffy said, pointing. “Robin will get you taken care of.”

“A-alright.”

Luffy set off around the circle, and Sanji fell in step behind him.

In the gaps between tents, he caught flashes of the figures in the center of the circle. There were perhaps a half a dozen, huddled around a burning campfire and passing a flask between them. As he watched, one of them told a joke and the others broke into a chorus of laughter.

“In here,” Luffy said, directing Sanji’s attention back to the front. He ducked into a large, blue- and purple-patterned tent. Usopp followed him, beckoning Sanji inside.

Sanji pushed past the tent flap and found himself in a cramped, yet well-lit, space. Besides Luffy and Usopp, there were already three other people in the tent. Two of them, both women, sat on the ground on tasseled pillows, holding steaming cups of tea. The third was a man, standing nonchalantly in the back with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Hey, Robin!”

“Hello, Luffy, Usopp,” one of the women said pleasantly. Sanji judged her to be about mid-twenties, and beautiful. She wore a simple dress, with her long, dark hair falling loose around her shoulders. “And who’s this?”

“This is Sanji,” Luffy said, gesturing behind him and almost hitting Sanji in the face in the confined space. “He says he wants to join us.”

“Oh, my.” Robin carefully set aside her tea and stood up. “A new member, how exciting.”

“He can come along, right?”

Robin stepped closer, her eyes sweeping over Sanji, who fidgeted nervously. “I don’t see any reason why not,” she said eventually, giving him a reassuring smile.

“Great!” Luffy said, clapping a hand on Sanji’s shoulder. “Glad to have you, Sanji.”

“Thanks, Luffy.”

“Sure thing. C’mon Usopp, it’s too crowded in here. ‘Night, everybody.”

“Goodnight, boys.”

“Hey, Robin,” the man at the back of the tent said as Luffy and Usopp disappeared outside the tent once more. “Tell me you’re not actually going to let this rich boy come with us.”

Sanji stiffened defensively. “Ex _cuse_ me?”

“You heard me,” the man growled, glaring at Sanji. It was hard to tell his age just from looking at him, but he couldn’t have been more than a year or two older than Sanji. A long, thin scar marred one side of his face, only partially concealed behind a black eyepatch. He wore a worn, stained tank top that left his muscular arms bare, and a frown.

“Now, Zoro. You don’t know anything about Sanji. We’ve only just been introduced.”

“I know he didn’t get that silk shirt he’s wearing from the Hoovertown in the park we passed by earlier. Pampered pretty boy like him won’t last three days here.”

“Zoro, stop that,” snapped the other girl in the tent, getting to her feet and planting her hands on her hips. “We can’t judge someone just by their looks. I would have thought you, of all people, would understand that. Now, this boy has come to us and asked us to take him in, in the middle of the night no less, and you would have him turned away just because he’s wearing a nicer shirt than you? Shame on you.”

“Hmph. Fine, let him stay if you want. I won’t be responsible for him, though.”

“No one asked you to be. Now if you don’t have anything nice to say, go on back to your own tent.”

“Alright, alright, I’m going.”

Zoro gave Sanji one last angry look on his way out, which Sanji returned in kind. He hadn’t come here to make enemies, but he also hadn’t done anything to provoke Zoro. Talk about poor first impressions.

“Sorry about him,” the girl said, letting out a weary sigh. “Don’t take it personally, he’s always like that. I’m Nami, by the way.”

“N-nice to meet you,” Sanji muttered. Nami was as beautiful as Robin, yet in an entirely different way. Her hair was short and wavy, her demeanor cheerful rather than calmly serene.

“And don’t let what he said bother you. If you decide to stick around we’ll be happy to have you. Just, do me a favor and don’t prove him right, or I’ll never hear the end of it.” Nami winked at Sanji, nearly giving him a heart attack. “Well, Robin, I suppose I’ll be heading out too. Goodnight, sleep well and all that.”

“Goodnight,” Robin said, waving the young woman out. “Now then, Sanji. Running away to join the circus, hmm? Are you sure you’ve fully thought this through?”

“What? I’m not, not running away. What would give you that idea?”

“Oh, honey, I didn’t mean it like that. Half of us here are runaways. There’s no shame in it. Here,” she said softly, moving closer and extending a hand towards him. “May I?”

Sanji hesitated, but then nodded, eyes downcast.

Robin gently brushed his long bangs away from his face, studying the fresh black eye that was blossoming on his face. “That looks painful.”

“It’s fine.”

She nodded, the look in her eyes saying that she understood him. “Life with the circus is not as glamorous as you’ve likely been led to believe. There’s much hard work in store for you. Do you think you can handle it?”

“I don’t really know. Do you?”

“Yes, I think you can.” She smiled. “If you’re willing to put in the work, then there’s a place for you here.”

“Then, if it’s ok, I’d like to stay.”

“Of course. In that case, welcome to Roger’s Flying Safari Circus.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and welcome, friends, to my circus AU! About a year ago in a completely different setting, I included a chapter in one of my fics where the crew went incognito as part of a travelling circus, and I really wanted to expand on that, so here we are! We'll be moving through a couple different characters' pov's, and expanding on what exactly it is everyone does with the circus in the next few chapters. I'm super excited to finally be sharing this with you guys, and I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for reading!


	2. Of Lions, Horses, and Birds (Oh My)

The circus wasn’t really the best environment for animals. Especially not the big, exotic ones, which coincidentally were the ones everyone went to the circus to see. They were constantly on the move, and the circus didn’t have the resources to give their animals very big enclosures either. It wasn’t a natural lifestyle, in any sense of the word.

But they were good animals nonetheless, well-trained and well-behaved. Jinbei did the best he could for them with what he had available, and tried to keep them happy.

It wasn’t an easy job. He had to be up early every day to feed them and clean their cages, which wasn’t a very fun activity. He had to stay up late after the shows, getting them settled again. Still though, at least it was a job, and a steady one at that. He could have done much worse for himself, he supposed.

Sometimes he had company, too, which was always nice.

“Heya, Jinbei!”

“Well, look who it is.” Jinbei straightened up from the table where he’d been preparing breakfast for the animals. “Good morning Luffy. Who’s your friend?”

“This is Sanji,” Luffy said, bounding up with his usual enthusiasm. “He’s new, so I’m giving him a tour.”

“Ah, I see.” Jinbei nodded to the new kid, who was standing stiffly behind Luffy, wearing what was clearly a borrowed shirt, looking a little nervous. “Welcome aboard, Sanji. My name is Jinbei, and I care for the animals.”

“Nice to meet you, sir.”

“Would you boys like to help me with feedings, since you’re here?”

“Yeah!”

“Uh, is it ok?”

“Of course.” Jinbei tried to smile reassuringly. It was, in his experience, not something he was very good at, but he tried anyway. “If you’re going to be travelling with us, you should be familiar with everyone.”

Sanji nodded tentatively. “Alright. What should I do?”

A mixed success- perhaps some of Robin’s talent was rubbing off on him?

“Here, you can help me carry these to the horses.” Jinbei reached under the table and dragged out a couple of large bags he’d pre-stuffed with oats and grains. “Careful, they’re kind of awkward to carry.”

“I’ve got it,” Sanji said determinedly, hefting one of the bags with both arms.

“This way!” Luffy said, skipping off towards the waiting horses, threatening to spill the oats he was carrying all over the floor.

“Slow down, Luffy,” Jinbei called, lifting the three remaining bags without much effort. He was perfectly aware that his words would likely have no effect, but it was important to keep up appearances.

The circus had five horses in total. Three of them were trained for performance in the ring, and were a popular attraction. The other two were draft horses, who helped the circus get all their gear from one town to another.

“Let them sniff your hand,” Luffy told Sanji authoritatively, as if he were an expert.

Sanji followed Luffy’s example, flinching a little when the spotted horse in front of him sniffed curiously at his palm.

“That’s Pierre,” Jinbei said, hooking the first of the bags in place. “He’s our star performer, he is. Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you.”

“Hello, Pierre,” Sanji said, cautiously reaching up to pet the horse’s nose.

“I think he likes you.” Luffy grinned, and Sanji smiled tentatively back.

Then, without warning, an ear-piercing shriek sounded, through the room, making Sanji jump in surprise.

“Ah! What was that?”

“Don’t worry, it’s ok,” Jinbei assured him, while Luffy burst into laughter. “That’s just Pell, letting us know he’s hungry too.”

“Ahaha, Sanji you should have seen your face!”

“Who’s Pell?” Sanji asked, following Jinbei back to the food table and doing his best to ignore Luffy.

“Here, I’ll show you.” Jinbei led the way over to the corner, where a six foot tall birdcage stood, covered by a patchwork blanket. He reached out and pulled the blanket aside, revealing two large, hungry birds of prey, staring at them expectantly.

Sanji stopped short of stepping too close to the cage bars, but leaned in, mouth agape. “Wow, they’re so pretty. What kinds of birds are they?”

“Pell is a Peregrine Falcon, and Monet is a Northern Harrier Hawk,” Jinbei explained, happy to have a chance to talk about his animals to a fresh, curious mind. “Pell is a rescue, and can’t be released into the wild, so we decided to keep him. We got Monet from a breeder, to keep him company.”

“And they perform with the circus?”

“Oh, no, they’re not nearly that well-trained yet. But they’ll sit on your arm if you keep still, so sometimes we bring ‘em out to try and attract potential customers. They’re popular with kids, especially.”

Sanji nodded, watching as Pell and Monet eagerly gobbled up the food that Jinbei offered them. “That’s so cool.”

“I’m glad you think so. Well, now that these two are fed, that just leaves-”

“Richie!”

“...Yes, Richie.”

“Ooohhh, can I feed him this time, Jinbei?” Luffy asked, bouncing up and down excitedly.

“No,” Jinbei said firmly. “Last time you tried to feed him, you almost got your arm bit off.”

“I’ll be careful!”

“No. Some other time, maybe. This way,” Jinbei said to Sanji, grabbing a bowl of raw meat from the table and heading towards the door. “I don’t keep Richie in the same area as the horses anymore, they don’t really get along.”

Sanji gasped audibly when he first set eyes on the huge male lion, pacing in his cage. “Whoa…”

“Hey, buddy!” Luffy said, waving happily. Thankfully, Jinbei’s numerous lectures about not getting too close to the bars seemed to be finally paying off, because he didn’t try to run forward towards the big cat, as Jinbei had seen him do on more than one occasion.

“Richie’s been with us for years. He’s one of our main attractions. Uh, no pun intended.”

“You perform with him, in the ring?”

“I don’t usually do it myself, no. But he does get in the ring with some of our trainers. He’s pretty well-behaved, as long as he’s not too hungry.”

“Incredible,” Sanji breathed, watching the lion’s every move as Jinbei slid the bowl of meat in through a flap on one side of the cage, then retrieved last night’s empty bowl from another flap on the other side.

“Richie is great,” Luffy said enthusiastically. “You’ll get to know him, especially if you end up as a performer.”

“It’s not… y’know, dangerous?”

“Naaaahhhh, it’s fine!”

“Don’t listen to him, it’s definitely dangerous. But only if you don’t use your common sense. You seem like you’ve got a good head on your shoulders, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Riiiiight.”

“So, now you’ve met everyone,” Jinbei said. “What do you think? You want to work with animals?”

“Um. Can I have some more time to think about it?”

“Of course. Take your time and learn as much as you can about all your options.”

“Thanks.”

They set off back to the area where they kept the horses and birds, chatting happily. Jinbei was glad to see that Sanji seemed cheerful and open to conversation; sometimes it took a while for new members to really warm up. Some never did. Those ones never lasted long.

“So, Jinbei, how did you end up here? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

“Not at all. I used to work for the government, quite a few years ago now. But then I fell on some hard times. An old associate of mine recommended me to the ringmaster, and he was kind enough to offer me a permanent place.”

“I haven’t actually met the ringmaster yet. Apparently he’s away on business right now. I hope he won’t mind me staying with you guys…”

“I’m sure he won’t.”

Jinbei pushed open the door and approached the food prep table, only to stop short in his tracks. Sitting on the tabletop was a skinny black cat, watching them intently, tail swishing back and forth.

“Oh, I didn’t know we had a cat.”

“We...don’t…”

The cat meowed loudly, standing up and taking a step towards the packaged lion food.

“Ah, I remember. I gave a stray a bit of spare food at our last stop. He must have followed us all the way out here,” Jinbei said wonderingly.

“We _have_ to keep him,” Luffy demanded, already in motion towards the table. He reached out a hand to pet the cat, who sniffed it warily, but allowed Luffy to pet him. “Jinbei, please, we have got to keep this cat, look at how skinny he is, and he followed us, and-”

“Alright, alright, Luffy! I’ll think about it, ok?”

“We have to keep him!”

“Ok, ok, calm down. What do you think, Sanji?”

“Me?” Sanji glanced between Jinbei, who had genuinely just asked out of curiosity, and the cat, who was now purring quietly. “I don’t know...I’d hate to turn him away, though. Maybe he can help with, catching rats or something?”

Jinbei nodded thoughtfully. “I suppose so.”

“So we’ll keep him, right!”

“I’ll ask permission from the boss, and if he says yes, then yes, we’ll keep the cat.”

“Alright!” Luffy pumped his fist into the air, then reached into the bag of lion’s food and pulled out a piece to feed the cat.

Sanji smiled shyly at Jinbei. “Thanks. I just really didn’t want to see him go hungry…”

Jinbei shrugged, smiling in spite of himself. “Well, you know how it is. All are welcome at the circus, even the strays.”

“Hmm.” Sanji reached up absently and tugged at the long bangs that hung in front of his face. 

“Even the strays.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess somewhere along the line I gave up on using strictly 30's lingo (whoops). This was my first time writing Jinbei! I wish it could have been something that would do him better justice than this, but it was fun nonetheless. Hopefully he'll make another appearance in the future.


	3. You Don't Choose the Circus Life, It Chooses You

“And-a one, two, three, _turn_ , five, six, seven, eight-and _kick!_ ”

Nami focused hard, concentrating on her next move, keeping an eye out for the movements of her partner and listening to her instructor clapping to keep time. They were practicing a new sequence for a routine they hoped to put into their performance rotation soon. It wasn’t exactly easy, and she was having to work quite hard just to keep up.

“Enough, enough, stop.” Their instructor, a tall, thin woman named Shakuyaku, sighed and shook her head. “Girls, you can’t keep going like this. There’s no _emotion_ in the way you’re dancing right now. You do know that the next show is tomorrow night, yes?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Nami said flatly, catching her breath.

“Well, the way this is now, I don’t think it’ll be ready before then. So we’ll just have to push it back until the next stop.” Shakuyaku sighed again, checking her watch. “We’ll have to leave it here for right now, I’m meeting the ringmaster in a little while. I want you to practice this routine, ok? No excuses for next time.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Nami waited until Shakuyaku had walked a good distance away before dropping to the floor, groaning loudly. “She expects the impossible!”

Her partner, Vivi, shrugged and moved over to sit on the edge of the stage, reaching down to retie one of her shoes. “I don’t think it’s impossible. I think we just need a little more time. To get the moves down before we start adding anything else, I mean.”

“Mmm.” Nami leaned back, spreading her legs out underneath her in a most unladylike manner. “At this point, she can have either all the right choreography, or emotion, but not both.”

Vivi laughed. She had been in the circus almost as long as Nami had, and Nami considered her one of her closest friends. They’d been dancing together for years now. Seeing as they were two of the most constant and reliable of the circus’ dancers, they had performed a number of duets together.

“I’m sure we’ll get the hang of it eventually. And I’m kind of glad we’ll be pushing it back- I’d rather show the audience a performance that I’m confident in, you know?”

“Yep. I say we take a little break, but then I want to practice a little more for the show tomorrow. If you don’t mind?”

“No, of course not. That shouldn’t take too long.”

They heard the distinct sound of a tent flap being pushed aside, and looked behind them to see Zoro walking up to them, carrying a long coil of rope.

“Hello Zoro,” Vivi called, waving cheerfully. 

“Hey, Vivi. Hey, Nami. You guys busy right now? I need to set up the curtain pulleys.”

“We’re taking a break. Go right ahead.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey Zoro,” Nami said, “you should take the new guy around backstage later. Show him how it all works.”

“No. You do it.”

“I can’t, because I don’t know how any of it works. That’s your job, so you do it.”

“There’s a new guy?”

“Oh yeah, I guess you probably haven’t heard yet. He came in late last night with nothing but the shirt on his back, poor boy.”

“I don’t trust him,” Zoro grumbled, beginning to uncoil his rope.

“You don’t even know him.”

“Exactly!”

“You’ll never make any friends with that attitude,” Vivi pointed out. Nami had never understood how the girl could possibly be so friendly and patient with Zoro.

“I would rather not be friends with a blonde pretty boy who’s probably never worked a day in his life.”

“Are you sure about that? He sounds like a Prince Charming to me.”

“God, Zoro, stop being so dramatic. You don’t have to like him, just take him around backstage, ok?”

“No.”

“Ugh, why are you so difficult?”

Zoro shrugged irritably, deftly tying the first knots in the pulley rope. Nami sighed, deciding that it wasn’t worth pushing the issue.

From outside, the sound of Luffy’s voice reached them. Luffy could almost always be heard before he was seen.

“Hellooo!” He called, pushing aside the front-entrance tent flap and peering inside. “Anyone in here?”

“Yep, over here.”

“Hi, Luffy!”

“Oh, hi, guys! How’s setup going?”

“Fine, as of right now.”

“Great. Hey Zoro, you can help me with this!”

“With what?”

“I’m giving a tour. Sanji, get in here! Zoro,” Luffy said, dragging Sanji in by the arm, “show him around backstage, will you?”

Zoro groaned, and Nami and Vivi burst into laughter.

“I’m busy, Luffy. Find someone else.”

“But you’re here right now. C’mon Zoro, backstage is your thing, you can teach it better than anyone else.”

“It’s ok, Luffy,” Sanji said quietly, avoiding Zoro’s gaze. “It can wait. He said he’s busy.”

“He always says that when he doesn’t want to do something.”

“Ooh, he’s onto you, Zoro,” Nami taunted, raising her eyebrows at Zoro.

“Oh, shut up.” Zoro walked away, scowling, making his way towards the corner where the first end of the rope had to be strung up. Nami stuck her tongue out after him.

Vivi hopped off the stage and offered Sanji her hand. “So, you’re the new guy? I’m Vivi, nice to meet you!”

“Ah, yes. I’m Sanji.”

“What brings you to the circus?”

Sanji shrugged awkwardly. “Uh...to tell you the truth, I left home last night under some pretty bad circumstances. I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Ohhh, so you’re here as a refugee? Me too!” Vivi smiled at the surprised expression on Sanji’s face. “My father brought me to America as an infant, when the war started to get really bad in my home country. He died a few years ago, of an illness, and I came here when I had nowhere else to go. Been here ever since.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your father. It sounds like he really cared about you.”

“He always did the best he could for me,” Vivi said, a hint of nostalgia and sadness creeping into her smile, “even as a penniless immigrant in a strange country. I miss him a lot, but I’ve been very happy here! I’m sure in time you’ll feel the same.”

“Thanks.”

“Tragic, isn’t it?” Nami shook her head sadly. “A princess like our Vivi forced to live a life of toil in a lowly circus. An absolute tragedy.”

“Please, Nami. I’m no princess.”

“You don’t know that. I bet your family comes from a noble line. I bet you’re secretly the long-lost heir to the British throne, destined to fix all of Europe’s messes by yourself.”

“Oh, don’t be silly.”

“What about you, Nami?” Sanji asked tentatively, as if he wasn’t sure he was allowed to. “What brings you here to the circus?”

“Me? Well, I’m for sure no long-lost royalty. My sister- we’re not related by blood, but that’s what we call ourselves- my sister and I were raised in an orphanage in Georgia. When the stocks crashed and things got tight, we set out on our own. They couldn’t afford to feed all of us, y’know. Anyway, my sister is about to graduate high school and make a decent person of herself. But me, I guess I’m gutter trash at heart. Just can’t bring myself to be a proper part of society. So here I am.”

“Same for me,” Luffy said, sitting down on the edge of the little stage beside Vivi. “I had a perfectly fine home life and everything but…school just wasn’t _working_ for me, you know? My grandpa kept trying to get me to join the military, but I chose this instead. It’s way more fun, anyway!”

“Luffy, I shudder to think what disasters would have befallen our boys in uniform if they had let you join.”

“Thanks, Nami!”

“It wasn’t a compliment.”

“Thank you guys for telling me all that,” Sanji said. “I appreciate it.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble! Don’t think anything of it.”

Zoro made his way back over to them, an end of thick, knotted rope in each hand and another between his teeth.

“So Zoro, you’ll give Sanji a look around backstage later, right?”

“I said I’m busy!”

“Yeah, I know. I said later.”

“Come on Zoro, give it a rest already and just give the new boy a tour. It’ll be ten minutes out of your life.”

Zoro dropped his ropes and crossed his arms over his chest, scowling again. “If I agree to do this, will you guys stop bothering me about it?”

“Yeah, ‘course!”

“Ugh, _fine_ then. You,” Zoro snapped, pointing at Sanji, “be here in another hour, got it?”

Sanji nodded, looking a little reluctant himself. “Alright, fine.”

“Fine. The rest of you get out of here, I need to hang curtains.”

“Alright, we’re going. Come on guys, let’s get some food.”

“Yeah, food!”

The four of them left Zoro to his work, making their way out into the sunny day outside the half-assembled circus tent.

“Hey, Sanji,” Vivi said, taking his arm and pulling him aside. “I just want to let you know that, if you ever need someone to listen, you can come to me. Ok? Whenever you’re ready to talk about whatever it is you’re struggling with.”

“Oh...ok.” Sanji shyly returned Vivi’s encouraging smile. “I might take you up on that some time. Thank you. ”

“You’re most welcome, Prince Charming.”

“What was that?”

“Oh, nothing. Let’s catch up with Nami and Luffy, shall we?”

Vivi skipped happily ahead, leaving a perplexed Sanji in her wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't actually know anything about real life circuses? So I'm basing this chapter off things I do know. As a music student, I know what I have to do when I prepare for a recital, which is practice a LOT (and complain about my professor). As a part-time stage manager, I know what it's like setting up before a concert (which isn't a circus, but hey, close enough). If any of it seems like it's inaccurate/made up? It probably is. That's a general disclaimer for the rest of this fic.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	4. On-the-Job Learning

“...And this panel controls the lights. Each of these buttons is for a different set. So, house lights, stage lights, spotlights, etc.”

“Does this also control the big flashing lights at the entrance?”

“No. Those are searchlights, which is a completely different thing. They have to be operated manually. There’s a few more of them somewhere- sometimes we use them for trapeze or tightrope performances. But they’re a pain, so we try to make due with the spotlights.”

“I see.”

Sanji followed Zoro as he continued on his way past the panel, further into the twisting labyrinth of dressing rooms and storage areas that was ‘backstage’. He no longer had much of an idea which direction he’d come in from, and was starting to wonder how it was possible for so much space to possibly exist in this one tent.

“That’s Ivankov’s dressing room. Do not go in there. If you ever think you want to go in there, for any reason whatsoever, you don’t. You don’t want to go in there, _trust_ me.”

“Uh, ok.”

“And next to his is Hancock’s room. Probably don’t go in there either, unless you find an escaped snake.”

Zoro’s tour was turning out to be much more informative than Sanji had anticipated. He was trying hard to remember everything said to him, just in case he’d need it in the future, but it was a lot. He found himself struggling to keep up.

“Aaand, this is where we keep all the extra costumes we’ve accumulated over the years. There’s a shit-ton of them, and most of them never get used, but we haul them all over the place with us anyway, for some reason. If you do end up wanting to perform, I’d check back here before anything else. We probably have something somewhere that’ll fit you.”

“I will.”

“Good. Ok, I think that’s everything...hey, since you’re here, do me a favor and help me with the net, will you?”

“Uh, sure.”

Zoro led the way through a door in the corner that brought them back to the ring, leaving Sanji even more confused than before.

“Wait, how did we get...?”

“Hey, stop dawdling and get over here!”

“Oh, right, sorry.”

Sanji hurried over to where Zoro was standing beside one of the tallest of the cylindrical tent supports, unfurling an enormous woven net.

“I’m gonna climb up and secure this corner. Then I’ll throw this rope down to you, and you’ll secure it to that peg over there. Make sure you pull it taut, because if it has too much give in it the net could snap if any weight is suddenly dropped into it. As in, if someone falls into it.”

“Got it.” Sanji stood back and watched as Zoro began climbing up the pole, hands and feet on the built-in ladder rungs, rope once again held fast in his mouth.

“Ok...alright, here, catch.”

Zoro tossed down the end of the rope, and Sanji hastily grabbed it. He had to hold on tight so as not to let it slip through his fingers and snap back upwards. He wrestled it over to the indicated peg and pulled it tight. “Is that good?”

“A little more.”

He heaved on the rope, straining backwards and managing to pull it back another inch or two.

“Ok, go ahead and tie it off.”

“Ok…”

Sanji gritted his teeth and grappled with the rope. But try as he might, he just couldn’t get it into a proper knot without loosening up some of the tension.

“Ugh, stop, you know what, just hold it there.”

Zoro jumped down off the pole and moved to take the rope from Sanji, skillfully twisting it into a tight knot around the peg.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. Honestly I didn’t expect you to be much good at any of this, anyway.”

Sanji frowned as Zoro straightened up and headed towards the next pole, to secure the next corner of the net. “What did I ever do to you, huh? What did I do to make you hate me?”

“I don’t hate you.”

“Liar.”

“A rich kid like you isn’t worth the effort of hating.”

“I’m not rich. I’m a runaway, remember? I’ve got nothing.”

“Rich isn’t just a state of wealth, pretty boy. It’s an attitude.”

Sanji rolled his eyes. Arguing with Zoro felt like arguing with a brick wall. “Where’s the peg for this one?”

“There, behind you. Just hold it, I’ll tie it.”

“Ok.” Sanji yanked on the rope, digging in his heels to keep it firmly in place. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Not unless it’s about backstage work.”

“How did you get that scar?”

Zoro sighed, taking the rope without looking at Sanji. “None of your business.”

“It is if it happened here. If working backstage is dangerous, I wanna know about it beforehand.”

“Of course it’s dangerous. You could get hurt pretty bad if you aren’t careful. But no, that’s not how this happened.”

“How, then?”

“It was...an accident.”

“What kind of accident?”

“Do you always ask this many questions?”

“If you don’t want to tell me, you could just say so.”

Zoro sighed again. He seemed to do that a lot. “About a year ago, at a stop in San Francisco, a couple of us went out into the city on a supply run. And somehow, Luffy managed to get into an argument with a couple street thugs. One of them pulled a knife on him and...I didn’t think, I just stepped out in front of it.”

Sanji stared at Zoro, open mouthed. “...Damn.”

Zoro just shrugged. “I don’t think they really meant to hurt anyone, so they cleared out pretty quick after that. I had to go to the hospital though, had to get stitches and everything. I think Luffy felt pretty guilty about it. But it turned out ok. I’ve been getting along fine with just the one eye, after all. Last one is over there, to your left.”

Sanji wordlessly moved over to the peg and waited for the rope attached to the final corner of the net to be thrown down to him. He didn’t know what he’d expected to hear about Zoro’s scar, but it hadn’t been that. The fact that Zoro had thoughtlessly put himself in danger in order to protect Luffy made Sanji look at him in a whole new light.

“Here ya go,” Zoro called, snapping Sanji’s thoughts back to the present.

He caught the rope and pulled it back, feeling the resistance of the other three corners pulling against him. “Can I try to tie this one?”

“Be my guest,” Zoro said drily. 

Sanji ignored his sarcasm and pulled hard on the rope, trying to do as he’d seen Zoro do earlier. After a few moments, he managed to feed the free end of the rope through the loop he’d created, and hurried to tighten the knot before any tension was lost in the net.

“I did it!”

Zoro bent down to inspect Sanji’s work. “Not bad, rich boy. Not great, but not bad.”

“My _name_ is Sanji.”

“I know that.”

Sanji rolled his eyes. Again; brick wall. “So, what happens to all this stuff when the circus moves?”

“It gets packed up into these big plastic boxes. We’ve got a team of draft horses and a wagon, and two rickety old trucks that’re broken down half the time. That stuff goes on ahead, then the rest of us pack suitcases and take a train.”

“Wow. And you’ve been as far as San Francisco?”

“Yeah, we go everywhere. Our next stop is in, Boston, I think?”

“Wow…I’ve never even been out of New York.”

“Eh, you get used to it.” Zoro shrugged. “I remember being really starstruck the first time I left Philly, but after a while it all starts to look the same, y’know?”

“Hmm.” Sanji considered asking why Zoro had joined the circus in the first place, but decided that he had already pushed his luck enough for one day. Instead he asked, “when will we leave for Boston?”

“After about a week and a half of shows. You should probably sit the first one out, just to watch and get a better idea of how we do things here.”

“I’ll do that then. Do you need help with anything else right now?”

“Nope, I got the rest of it.”

“Ok. In that case, I’m gonna go find Luffy again. I think he had some more to show me.”

“Sure. If you happen to see Perona when you get back out there, do me a favor and have her come by.”

“Alright,” Sanji said, making a mental note to find out who ‘Perona’ was. “Thanks for the tour.”

“No problem. And hey, uh...sorry about earlier. If you want to work backstage, we can make that happen. As long as you’re willing to put in the work, that is.”

“Oh.” Sanji blinked in surprise. “Ok. I need to give it a little more thought but...thanks, Zoro.”

“You’re welcome. Now get out of here and let me do my job.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I've mentioned up til now that this is happening in NYC. I tried to make it so that all the kids from the East Blue are from somewhere on the US east coast. Please feel free to imagine them speaking in their respective accents ; )
> 
> Also, the idea here is that all the doors that lead out of the backstage area all eventually lead to the same place, which is why Zoro doesn't have any trouble getting around and why it isn't obvious at first glance that he struggles with direction


	5. What's for Dinner?

“Here you go, Robin,” Franky said, setting the crate he was carrying on the ground with an audible thud. “All the potatoes you could ever need. Want me to get the fire going?”

“Please, that would be a great help.” 

Robin sidestepped lightly around the large crate of potatoes, a basket of fresh carrots in one hand and several jars of seasonings in the other.

“Robin, Robin, where should I put the rolls?”

“Just leave them over there, please, Chopper. Thank you.”

“Um, what should I do?”

“Could you bring over the rest of the vegetables please, Sanji?”

“Yeah, sure…”

“Thank you.”

Robin set down her carrots and spices on the folding table that rested nearby on the grass, as close to the fire pit as they could safely get it. The surface of the table was scarred and chipped, evidence of the years that they’d been using it as a chopping board.

“Onions, celery, and mushrooms. Is that everything?”

“Yes, it is. Everyone gather around and grab a knife, we don’t have much time.”

The sun was starting to sink towards the horizon, and the temperature was starting to drop- night was fast approaching. It had taken she and Franky longer than Robin had anticipated to find all the things they needed in the city, and now they were rushing to get dinner done before the sun set completely, leaving them to prepare the food in the dark.

“I got the carrots,” Chopper announced confidently.

“Uh, hey, not to be rude or anything, but can you reach?”

“There’s a footstool on the other side, silly. What did you think I was going to do, sit on the table?”

“Sorry…”

Robin chuckled to herself at the genuinely-concerned look on Sanji’s face. “Don’t you worry Sanji. I promise, whatever it is you’re worried about, we’ve already thought of it.”

“Ok,” Sanji said awkwardly, accepting the knife she held out to him and pulling the bowl of celery closer. “I’m sorry. It’s just, I’ve never met a little person before.”

“This is the _circus_ ,” Chopper said pointedly. “Where else would you expect to meet one?”

“Good point.”

“We try to be as inclusive here as possible,” Robin continued, her hands chopping up onions with quick and practiced motions. “Little people, regularly sized people, it makes no difference. Whites, blacks, and immigrants. Talented or not, good-looking or not, none of that makes any difference here.”

“Don’t listen to her, kid,” Franky said from his place by the slowly-kindling fire. “They only keep me around for my act. The moment a better strongman comes along I’ll be out on my ear, won’t I?”

“Don’t be silly, Franky. Any rumors you may have heard about the ringmaster actively looking for someone to replace you are greatly exaggerated, I swear.” 

It was hard to tell for sure, but from the small smile on her face Sanji was mostly sure that she wasn’t being serious. Mostly.

“Robin, may I ask you a question?”

“Of course, dear.”

“Why did you join the circus?”

“Oh, my, that’s quite the tale!” Robin smiled, a faraway look in her eyes. “I suppose, because it was convenient. I was looking for a quick, easy way to get out of Texas without drawing unwanted attention to myself, and the circus was right there. So I tagged along. I never meant to stay very long and yet, here we are. Hard to leave a place I’ve made so many friends. Not to mention, I genuinely enjoy the work- making people laugh is surprisingly rewarding.”

“Um...why did you say you needed to leave Texas?”

“Oh, it was just an argument that got a little out of hand. At the time I thought the other party just needed some time to rethink their position, but to tell you the truth, I’m still not sure they’ve gotten over it.”

“Uh _huh_. Ok. What about you, Mr. Franky?”

“I once thought I was gonna make it big in showbiz. But that kinda fell through on me, and I didn’t have many other options available, if you know what I mean.”

“You were an actor?”

“No, I was a studio worker. I made mechanical props and the like for films. At least, I did, until one of them caught fire and almost burned down half of LA.”

“Franky is great with machines,” Chopper put in cheerfully. “He’s the one who keeps our trucks in working order when we move locations.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Chopper. But I think there’s more job security in being a strongman- at least until Robin finds her replacement for me, that is.”

“Thank you guys for telling me,” Sanji said. “I’ve been trying to ask everyone I meet. I think it’s interesting hearing stories from all over the country.”

“Well, kid, before long you’ll have been all over the country yourself! Kinda exciting, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I’m definitely looking forward to it.”

The sun was really going down by that point, and all of them were relying more on the firelight than anything to see the work in front of them. But they were almost finished, and soon the dark wouldn’t be a problem.

“I’m sorry for roping you into helping us with the food, Sanji,” Robin said, starting in on the last of the mushrooms with her knife.

“That’s ok. Cooking is actually a bit of a hobby of mine. I enjoy it.”

“Oh, really? What a nice change. Perhaps I’ll enlist your help more often. It’ll certainly be nice having some pleasurable company.”

“Sure! What should I do with these when I’m done, by the way?”

“Just throw ‘em right in the pot here- the water should be hot enough by now.”

“Ok…”

Before long, all the ingredients were simmering away in the circus’ enormous cooking pot, and the smell of the food was starting to attract others. People congregated about the little fire, some Sanji recognized and many more that he did not.

“Hey Sanji,” Chopper said, noticing his rather anxious expression, “do you want to eat with me and Luffy and Usopp?”

“Ah...you don’t mind?”

“No, of course not.”

“Ok then.” Sanji smiled, visibly relieved. “Thanks.”

“Sure thing.”

Robin smiled too, stirring the stew with a long wooden spoon. Sanji was already fitting in much better than he probably thought he was. But that was, after all, the beauty of their little circus, the entire reason she’d stuck around as long as she had.

They tried to be as inclusive as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Disclaimer: I have no idea whatsoever how stew is made, this is just what I imagine it's like cooking for a large group of people on a Great Depression budget. 
> 
> Next chapter we'll finally get to see some of the show, I promise! I'll try to have it up soon...school is killing me right now you guys, I am tired and stressed all the time, but I'll try to make some time to write somewhere. Thanks for your patience, and thanks for reading!


	6. Ladies and Gentlemen, it's Opening Night!

The next day started early, everyone rushing around, chugging coffee and getting ready. They were putting on a show that evening, and there wasn’t a moment to spare.

Sanji spent most of the morning in the big circus tent, determined to observe the setup process closely so that he could jump right in when the time came for him to be a part of it.

It was nothing like he’d expected it to be. Shouted requests, queries, and demands rang out across the tent as people half-dressed in costume rushed around seemingly without any idea where they were going. The whole scene was one of barely-controlled chaos.

Eventually, after a few hours of doing his best to stay out of everyone’s way and not being entirely successful at it, two men in pinstripe suits carrying a cedar wardrobe between them shouted at him to go outside.

So he did, only to discover that things were almost as chaotic out there. Despite the early hour, a crowd of people were already milling around buying tickets and snacks from wandering circus workers.

Sanji spent another couple of hours following Chopper around, watching how he expertly drew in potential customers and clumsily trying to imitate him.

Around four or five in the early evening, Chopper called a halt. “They’ve already sold enough tickets to make a profit for the night,” he explained. “You’re watching tonight, right? C’mon, if we want to get good seats we should probably go in now.”

“How do you know? That we’ve already made a profit, I mean. Were you counting?”

“No. I just know. You get a feel for it, after a while.”

They reentered the tent, the lights now dimmed and the stands full of chattering people.

“There really are a lot of people here.”

“Yep. Pretty good turnout for a first show in town, actually.”

“How much is admission?”

“Not much. Robin says it’s better to keep it low so that more people can attend, rather just a few wealthy people. And also she says sometimes it’s ok to let people in for less than the full fee, if there are still seats open. Because ‘times are hard,’ and ‘everyone deserves all the distraction we can give them’.”

“I think that’s really admirable.”

“Well yeah, but it’s also good for business. Which is ok. It can be both.”

After a few minutes, all the lights simultaneously went out, immediately capturing the audience’s undivided attention. Then, a single spotlight clicked on, illuminating a lone figure in the middle of the ring, facing them with his arms spread wide. A lone figure in a top hat and long grey coattails, who could only be the ringmaster.

“Welcome,” he said, and his voice boomed out over the now crowd now sitting in anticipatory silence. Sanji had goosebumps. “Welcome, my friends, to Roger’s Flying Safari Circus! We thank you for coming out tonight to see our show, which we’ve worked hard to put together for you. Mystery and majesty, wonder and splendor, all this and more awaits for you tonight. Are you ready for it?” Cheers and applause from the crowd, eliciting a wide grin from the ringmaster. “Then without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, we shall begin!”

The spotlight over the ringmaster winked out, and a moment later a few more clicked on, drawing everyone’s attention up, high above their heads. 

Luffy and Usopp waved to the crowd from their place on the rickety-looking platform extending from the tent’s highest support, grinning ear to ear. Sanji couldn’t imagine ever being comfortable at that height, but they hardly even seemed to notice, stepping daringly close to the edge and laughing the whole time.

When Luffy took the trapeze bar in his grip and dove off the platform and into the open air, Sanji gasped aloud, his hands automatically going to his mouth.

Chopper laughed at him. “Don’t worry, Sanji. They’ll be fine. Look, see?”

Luffy didn’t fall, as Sanji had half-feared he might. Instead he soared through the air as if he belonged there, that same wide grin still visible on his face. A moment later, Usopp joined him, and their act began in earnest. The two of them twisted and spun in the air, expertly playing off each other and dazzling the crowd.

When it was over, Luffy and Usopp didn’t even stick around for the applause to die down. The lights changed again, directing the audience back to the ground. In a blast of confetti and music, a whole group of clowns spilled out into the ring, cavorting and dancing, making faces at the crowd. And a moment after _that_ , Richie appeared, being led by a lion tamer in a huge feathery hat.

The show was nonstop, each act leading immediately into the next. And all of it was absolutely breathtaking, in one way or another. Sanji kept finding himself on the edge of his seat without realizing how he’d got there.

He had the chance to see many more familiar faces besides Luffy’s and Usopp’s. It was great to have a chance to see so many of his new friends showing off for the crowds.

Robin swept into the ring like a queen, draped in long violet robes richly embroidered in gold. No one else shared the ring with her, and no music played. At first the silence was a little unsettling- until Robin flashed her sly, knowing smile at them and produced a shower of flower petals seemingly from thin air. Amid the ‘ooh’s and ‘ahh’s from the crowd, she smoothly waved her hands and suddenly two live doves burst forth from the flower petals; both of which Sanji was _sure_ had not been there a moment before. Robin’s magic show lasted a full fifteen minutes, and though all of it was performed in complete silence, it held the audience captive in it’s spell the entire time.

When it was the dance troupe’s turn to perform, Chopper pointed out Nami and Vivi to Sanji. The dance was mesmerizing, a flurry of swirling skirts and flashing sequins. Throughout the whole thing, Sanji watched his two friends spin and leap in time with the upbeat music, their movements perfectly synchronized, their smiles never faltering.

Franky’s act wasn’t just lifting heavy things to impress the audience- although there was a lot of that. He had great stage presence, and great comedic timing, and effectively made use of both, leaving them all in stitches.

There were other acts, too. A tightrope walker in a frilly pink leotard, a contortionist, a trio of mimes, a woman with a long boa constrictor draped lazily around her shoulders. All of it was expertly executed and, by the time all of them were back in the ring taking their final bows and the ringmaster was thanking them again and wishing them goodnight, Sanji’s hands stung from clapping so much.

“Well?” Chopper asked as the people around them started to move. “Did you like it?”

“Yeah,” Sanji said earnestly. “It was _amazing_. I’ve never seen anything like it, any of it.”

“Hah, I’m happy to hear it!”

They left the tent along with the crowds, Sanji doing his best not to ramble at length about everything he had loved about all the different acts. He felt like a little kid again- a feeling he hadn’t realized he’d been missing.

“Excuse me,” a voice interrupted his train of thought, followed a moment later by a woman with a cigarette between her teeth stepping into their path. “Are you Sanji? The new hire?”

“Oh, uh...yes, that’s me,” Sanji stammered, a little thrown off to be referred to as such.

“Hi, Ms. Shakuyaku,” Chopper said, raising a hand in greeting.

“Yes, hello, Chopper. I need to borrow Sanji for a while, if that’s alright.”

“Sure, go ahead. I’ll go ahead and start the cleanup, then.”

“Thank you, Chopper. As for you,” Shakuyaku said, looking down at the nervous Sanji, “follow me.”

“Um...may I ask why?”

She took her cigarette out of her mouth and smiled, clearly an effort to make him feel better.

“You, young man, are long overdue for a meeting with the ringmaster.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two apologies: one for the long, long wait in getting this chapter out, and another for the unedited trash that it is when I finally get it posted. I have been super busy with school and work, and at this point if I had to look at this chapter for another moment I would go insane. But, at least it's done! I'll try to have the next one out soon, but in case I don't, your continued patience is greatly appreciated!


	7. Meet the Ringmaster

Shakuyaku led Sanji around back of the big circus tent, towards where the smaller individual tents were set up. The one she stopped outside of was made of black fabric that had been stitched up here and there with patches of gray.

“Here we are,” was all she said.

“Ok.” Sanji was really starting to get nervous now, wondering if he’d overstayed his welcome. “Do I wait, or...?”

“No, he’s waiting for you. Go on.”

“Alright...Um, excuse me,” Sanji said, anxiously peering around the edge of the tent flap. “You wanted to see me, Mr. Ringmaster…?”

The inside of the tent appeared to be a combination of sleeping space and makeshift office. The furniture was mostly shabby, but well-cared for, like most of what Sanji had seen of the circus so far. This particular tent was lit by a single hanging lantern, bathing everything in a warm, cozy sort of glow.

Inside, the ringmaster looked up from the official-looking papers on the folding table that passed for his desk and adjusted his glasses on his nose. “Ah, yes! You must be Sanji. Come in, son, come in, sit down. I’ll be with you in just a second.”

“Ok.” Sanji did as he was invited, sitting down on the opposite side of the table. He couldn’t help but be reminded of how it felt to be called to the principal’s office in elementary school; not knowing if you were in trouble or not and just being told ‘wait.’

Up close, the ringmaster was...old. Without his top hat and the glow of the spotlight, Sanji could clearly see his thin, silver hair and the lines on his face.

“Alright,” he said after a moment, pushing the papers he’d been studying aside and pulling out a different sheet, handwritten and coffee stained. “Sorry about that. Let’s see here, you’ve been here for about two days already, is that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“No need to be so formal, my boy. I’m not going to bite you. You may as well call me Rayleigh- everybody else does.”

“Rayleigh, sir? Not Roger?”

The ringmaster nodded, an approving look on his face. “You’re a sharp one, I see. No, I’m not Roger. Roger was the one who originally founded and led this circus, but unfortunately he’s no longer with us. I’m just doing my best to carry on his work.”

“I understand, si- Rayleigh.”

“Ataboy, Sanji. Anyway, I’m sorry I haven’t been around to greet you properly yet. A ringmaster’s job is never done, eh? Bureaucracy is a bitch, especially in New York. But no matter, we’re both here now. And, for the record, you’re welcome to join us.”

Sanji breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t being turned away, after all. “Thank you.”

“That said, have you given any thought to what you’d like to do here? I hate to say it, but if you want to remain here for any length of time, you’ll have to work to earn your place.”

Sanji hesitated, considering his answer. “I haven’t quite decided yet. I feel like it’s a big decision, so I’ve just been trying to gather as much information as possible. I just don’t want to rush into anything…”

Rayleigh nodded thoughtfully. “Mind if I make a suggestion?”

“Please.”

“The truth is, we’re actually looking for a new general manager right now. Our last one skipped out on us at a stop in Illinois. Illinois, of all places, can you believe it?”

“General manager, sir?”

Rayleigh nodded, sitting back in his chair a little. “Someone who works behind the scenes, keeps the show rolling. Gets all the acts lined up in the proper order and sends them out at the right time, cues light changes, stuff like that.”

“Um.” Sanji paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. “That...that sounds like a really important job.”

“It is, which is why it sucks that we don’t have a full time GM right now! Shakuyaku has been filling in, but she has her own work to focus on, I can’t keep asking her to do this too.”

“What makes you think I could do it? I’ve only been here for two days. I’ve only seen one performance! I have no experience, no credentials at all, and-”

“Nonsense! That kind of thing doesn’t matter. Look, Sanji,” Rayleigh said, putting down the paper he was holding and leaning forward to look Sanji in the eye, “like I said, you’re a sharp kid. I’m usually a pretty good judge of people, and I’ve got a good feeling about you. The show basically runs itself, the only real work is making sure the transitions go smoothly. You’d get to watch Shakuyaku do it once or twice, and then you’d be a pro.”

Sanji hesitated, thinking fast. It was true that he didn’t really have any skills worth contributing to the show. And if he was going to work backstage, the general manager’s position seemed like something he was better suited for than the kind of work that Zoro did, for instance.

“...I’d get to watch a few times first?”

“Absolutely, my boy. I wouldn’t just throw you to the lions like that. I want you to feel properly prepared. If you take the job, that is. I know I’m pushing you kinda hard about it, but we really need to find ourselves someone to fill this slot, sooner rather than later.”

“Can I make the final decision after I observe Ms. Shakuyaku once or twice?”

“Does that mean you’re considering it?”

“I suppose I am, sir.”

Rayleigh grinned and nodded. “I think that’s really only all I can ask of you. But if you’ll agree to try, I’ll agree to leave the choice in your hands.”

Sanji nodded back, setting his jaw determinedly. “I’ll do my best. Thank you, sir. And thank you for allowing me to stay.”

“Bah, you don’t need to thank me.” Rayleigh waved a hand dismissively. “Roger always said that he wanted anyone to be welcome here, no matter their circumstances. I do my best to run this place according to his wishes. If you have anyone to thank, it’s him.”

Sanji nodded. “Should I start my observations at the show tomorrow, then?”

“Yes, absolutely! I’ll make all the necessary arrangements. You’re going to do great things here, Sanji, I can tell.”

“How can you know that?”

Rayleigh smiled knowingly at Sanji and softly tapped a finger to his temple. As he did, the lantern light reflected in his eyes, lending them a rather mischievous glint. “I know. I just know.”

Somehow, a part of Sanji believed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our boy's got himself a job! Next chapter we'll get to meet the last few people I wanted to put in this story but haven't had a place to introduce yet. Hope you're looking forward to it! Thanks for reading!


	8. Watch and Learn

“Ms. Shakuyaku, how do you pronounce this name?”

“Cavendish.”

“Cah-ven-dish, ok, got it. Ok. What about this one?”

“Basil Hawkins. Stop fussing so much.”

“Sorry.”

Sanji carefully made note of the pronunciations on the clipboard he had been given, detailing the schedule for the night. He knew he was really just there to observe, but he was still nervous. He wanted to make a good first impression on his future coworkers.

Shakuyaku didn’t seem worried. She stood near the entrance to the ring, casually leaning against a tent support and smoking a cigarette, only occasionally checking her watch.

Sanji resisted the urge to ask- for probably the twentieth time that evening- how much longer they had until showtime. He was here to observe. Everything was going to be fine.

In truth, things seemed to have calmed down a lot since the first show. There had still been a fair number of people running up to Shakuyaku throughout the morning, asking if she knew the location of various props, costumes, or performers. But it hadn’t been nearly as hectic as what he had witnessed the day before. Which Sanji was very glad about, because if it was that crazy all the time he didn’t know what he would do.

At this point he was more worried about the show itself. Which would be starting any minute now. He resisted the urge to ask about the time again.

“Hello, hello, Ms. Shaku!” A man Sanji didn’t know emerged out of the crowd gathered backstage, waving cheerily. “What kind of crowd are we working with today?”

“Not a bad turnout at all,” Shakuyaku replied, shifting out of the way a little so he can peek through the tent flaps.

“Excellent. No place like New York, I always say, now don’t I?” 

Sanji recognized this man from the performance yesterday; he was a musician, one of the ones who played with the circus’ live accompaniment group. A tall, skeletally thin black man wearing a dark suit and even darker sunglasses.

The musician closed the tent flaps once again and turned, seeming to notice Sanji for the first time as he did so. “Hello, who’s this?”

“I’m Sanji, sir. I’m, uh...sorta training to be the new general manager.”

“Oh, is that right?” He looked delighted. “Training a new one from the ground up, are we? Fantastic! Put ‘er there, Sanji!”

Sanji reached out and shook the hand offered him. The man had a surprisingly firm grip.

“I’m Brook, by the way. I’m with the band. I’m so glad to hear that we’re going to have another full time GM...not that Ms. Shaku isn’t doing a wonderful job, of course.”

“He’s being modest. Brook is our resident composer, arranger, and concertmaster, all in one. He could leave us at any time to go pro, if he wanted, but then we’d be sunk. So make sure to keep him happy, or else.”

“Yes ma’am,” Sanji said, hurrying to write more notes on his clipboard.

Brook laughed heartily. “Don’t listen to her, Sanji, I couldn’t leave this circus if I tried. I have to go round up my band, but I’ll be back soon enough. Good luck with it!”

He waved and walked cheerily away. As far as Sanji could tell, the cane he carried was more for effect than anything else.

As he disappeared back into the crowd, another person separated and moved towards them- a young woman with long, curly hair tied back with a long pink ribbon.

“Have you seen Zoro?” she demanded of Shakuyaku without preamble, her hands planted angrily on her hips.

“No I have not,” Shakuyaku said, unphased. “But, he should be here soon for final check-in. So, if you just wait a moment, I’m sure he’ll turn up.”

“Stupid blockhead wandered off with my bag of hand chalk,” the girl muttered, crossing her arms. She was wearing an awful lot of makeup to compensate for the harshness of the spotlights, but Sanji could tell that underneath all of it she was really pretty. Why were there so many pretty girls at the circus, anyway?

“Excuse me,” he said tentatively, “you’re the tightrope walker, aren’t you?”

“Yes. And who are you?”

“I’m Sanji. General manager in training.”

“Oh.” She uncrossed her arms, looking a little less angry. “I’d heard we were getting a new one. I’m Perona.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Yeah, pleasure.” Perona distractedly squinted past Sanji’s shoulder, her hands going to her hips again. “Hey!”

“Hey,” Zoro said, walking up and handing Shakuyaku a piece of paper. “Everything’s in working order. That issue with the third right spotlight seems to be fixed now, so we’re good to go.”

“Thank you,” Shakuyaku said, taking the paper and clipping it to the clipboard underneath her schedule.

“Hey, Zoro! You have my chalk, you idiot!”

Zoro raised his eyebrows at Perona. “No I don’t.”

“Yes you do! I asked you to hold it for a moment and you just walked away with it!”

“Oh yeah…” Zoro reached into his pocket and pulled out a small drawstring bag. “This it?”

“Yes. Give it back!”

“Alright, alright, you don’t have to shout.” Zoro rolled his eyes at Sanji, completely ignoring Perona’s continued insults as she snatched the bag back from him. “Hey there, pretty boy. Rayleigh put you to work backstage after all, huh?”

“I guess he did,” Sanji shrugged. He wasn’t sure if Zoro liked him now or what, but he was cautiously optimistic that they’d at least be able to have a good working relationship one day.

“Don’t screw up, or you’ll ruin everything,” Zoro said grimly, immediately destroying the better part of that optimism.

“You’d better get going, Zoro,” Shakuyaku put in. “We’re opening in about a minute.”

“Oh, ok. Bye, pretty boy. Come on Perona, you heard the lady.”

“Shut up! I don’t want to hear that from you!”

Zoro and Perona took their leave, bickering animatedly the whole way. Shakuyaku put out her cigarette and clapped her hands to get the performers’ attention. Sanji stood up a little straighter, his heart rate beginning to pick up speed again as he remembered to be nervous about what was about to happen.

“Luffy, Usopp, you two are up after the Ringmaster again tonight. Get climbing. Melee group one, you’re up after the trapeze, so get in line.”

As the various clowns and lion tamers and whoever else would be sharing the ring after Luffy and Usopp’s act gathered at the front of the crowd, Rayleigh came jogging up from somewhere deeper in the backstage labyrinth.

“Whew, sorry I’m late! How are we doing?”

“We’re ready whenever you are,” Shakuyaku told him, reaching out and straightening the ringmaster’s large silver bowtie.

“Wonderful, wonderful. Alright, let’s get going then, shall we? Break a leg, all.”

Rayleigh opened the tent flap an inch or so and waved to the worker across the tent, signaling for him to turn the lights out. Then he ducked out of the tent to begin the show.

“He’s always late,” Shakuyaku whispered to Sanji as Rayleigh began his opening speech. “Alright, places everyone, get ready now!”

Sanji took very detailed notes throughout the duration of the show. He checked off each performer as they made their way into the ring, and he watched carefully as Shakuyaku cued each light change or waved the next act out.

It really did seem to run itself, as Rayleigh had told him it would. Most of the time she didn’t even pay attention to what was going on out in the ring, simply listening for applause from the audience to let her know when an act ended. She spent more time chatting with the performers backstage than anything else, really.

And before he realized it, the show was over.

“There. Not so bad, right?” Shakuyaku asked, scrawling a last note on her clipboard.

“Not so bad.” Sanji glanced back over everything he’d written over the last couple of hours. “It seems like the most challenging part is just knowing who everyone is and what they do.”

“Exactly, and it won’t take you long to get used to that.”

“Ok.” Sanji took a deep breath. “Can I watch one more time, though?”

“Sure. There’s no rush.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate your help, Ms. Shakuyaku.”

“No problem. Now get on out there and help with the cleanup, we’ve got to get this place spotless before tomorrow morning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really adore both Brook and Perona, and when I first set out to write this thing there was no doubt in my mind that they'd be a part of it! Sorry it took so long to introduce them, haha. I'm having a real good time with this au- I swear the dialogue practically writes itself.
> 
> We should be back to a fairly regular schedule of updates from now on, now that school's out for the summer! Thank you for bearing with me through the mess that was the end of last semester, I really appreciate it!


	9. All Aboard!

“So, what now?”

Sanji was sitting around a smoldering campfire with a few of the other circus members, after their last show in New York. Franky had produced a flask of homemade whiskey from somewhere and they were passing it around.

“Boston,” Zoro said, as if it were obvious. “I already told you that.”

“I know. The trucks and the draft horses take all the stuff. But what do _we_ do?”

“We’ll get there by train,” Robin said, offering him the flask.

“Oh, ok. Train. Uh, can I really drink this?”

“Of course you can, honey. Just, don’t go too fast, ok?”

“O-ok…”

“You don’t have to worry about getting up early tomorrow,” Nami said as he took a cautious sip and tried not to choke on it. “Everyone packs their own gear, and since you don’t really have anything to pack, you can sit this one out. And then once we’ve got everything together, we’ll get out of here.”

Sanji nodded, not quite trusting himself to speak after that whiskey.

“Besides,” Luffy said cheerfully, taking the flask from him, “you deserve a break, after all your hard work these past couple of days!”

“Hear hear. You’ve done an excellent job, Sanji.”

“But...I messed up the lights, and-”

“Forget about that,” Franky said, waving a hand dismissively. “Trivial. For how new you are here, you really have managed to learn a lot. Don’t be so hard on yourself!”

“...Ok.”

“Are you excited for Boston?” Robin asked.

“Yes! I’ve never been. Ah, but I don’t think I’ll be much help with the set up…”

“Don’t _worry_ about that! It’ll be ok. All you need to do is show up and keep doing what you have been doing.”

“Yeah, just be there to watch, and you’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly.”

Zoro took a last swig of whiskey and stood up from the circle. “Well, hate to cut this short, but some of us really do have to get up early tomorrow. ‘Night, everybody.”

“Goodnight, Zoro.”

“I think I’ll turn in, too,” Nami said, stretching her arms above her head. “Sleep well, everybody. We’ve got a train to catch tomorrow, after all.”

 

“ _That’s_ the train we’re taking? That one, right there?”

“Yeah, of course! Were you expecting something different?”

“Well, yes! I thought the circus had its own!”

By this point Luffy was laughing so hard he was nearly in stitches. “No, silly! We take the Transcontinental, like everybody else!”

“It’s much cheaper this way,” Robin assured him, approaching from behind. “We have, shall we say, an agreement with the railroad company. Come along now, let’s get this luggage stowed.”

“Yes ma’am.”

The circus’ tear down had been extremely swift and efficient. Everything that hadn’t left with the trucks had been packed into suitcases, and every person who hadn’t left with the trucks had taken a suitcase down to the local train station. Rayleigh and Robin had handed out tickets, and they’d begun boarding like it was the most natural thing in the world. The confused stares from the other people in the train station didn’t seem to bother them at all.

Sanji followed Robin and Luffy as they dropped off their luggage and then made their way to one of the passenger cars at the front of the train.

“Is it really ok for us to take public transport? As a private organization?”

“Don’t worry about it, Sanji. As I said, we have an agreement.”

“We always travel like this! Come on, let’s go sit over there.”

Luffy dragged Sanji over to a group of their friends and pushed him down into a seat between Chopper and Vivi.

“Hey guys.” Nami said from across the aisle, scooting over to make room for Luffy on her right. Perona and Zoro were seated on her left, neither one looking quite awake despite the fact that it was already well past ten o’clock.

“Good morning.”

“Nami, listen to this: Sanji thought we had our own tr-”

“Shut up about that, Luffy!”

The car was filled with circus members, all chattering lively amongst themselves. Sanji willed himself to relax. After all, it was his first time leaving New York, and he wanted to enjoy it.

“Usopp,” Rayleigh said, stopping short in the aisle in front of them, “mail for you. And one for Luffy too. Where’s...oh, there you are. Anybody seen Franky?”

“Yeah, he’s sitting up there.”

“Ok, thank you, Nami. If any of you has anything to send out, get it to me before we start moving or it’ll have to wait till Massachusetts.” He walked away in the direction Nami had indicated, shuffling through all the papers in his hands.

“Ooooh,” Chopper said, nudging Usopp in the ribs with his elbow, “a letter from your little girlfriend in Mississippi, huh?”

Usopp blushed and hunched his shoulders. “She’s not my girlfriend!”

“It’s from Sabo!” Luffy crowed happily, ripping open the envelope he’d been handed.

“I get your brothers confused,” Vivi said. “Is Sabo the one in Nevada?”

“No, the one in D.C.”

“I didn’t know you had brothers, Luffy.”

“Oh, yeah! I’ve got two, both older than me. Ace, who works as a dealer in a fancy casino in Vegas, and Sabo, who runs a speakeasy in the capitol. I try to keep up with them as much as possible, but it’s hard when I’m moving around all the time.”

“Does anyone have paper?” Usopp asked. “I want to send a response home to Kaya and the boys when we reach the station.”

“I have some, I think. Hold on a second,” Chopper said, pulling a careworn backpack from under the bench and rummaging around inside it.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve written to my sister,” Nami mused. “Maybe I should send her something.”

“I have extra,” Chopper said, pulling a few pieces of paper out of the backpack. “You want some, Nami?”

“Sure, why not. Thanks.”

“What about you, Zor- wait, is he already asleep?”

“They both are.”

“Wow. That’s gotta be like, a new record, even for those two. Asleep before we even leave the station.”

“What’s the story with them, anyway?” Sanji asked. “I see them together a lot, but they don’t seem to get along well.”

Vivi shrugged. “Zoro left on a supply run in Washington state one time, and when he came back she was following him. And she just kept kind of sticking to him. They act like that, but secretly I think they get along just fine. Birds of a feather, and all that.”

“They’re like brother and sister, really,” Nami said absently, busy with her letter.

“Yes, that’s a good way to describe it. What does your brother say, Luffy?”

“He says he’s doing good. What does ‘ambig-yus’ mean?”

“Ambiguous. It means, um, unspecified. Open-ended.”

“Oh, ok. Yeah, he seems to be doing really well.”

“‘Seems’?”

“Well, most of the stuff he deals with is top-secret and ambig-yu-yus, so.”

“Do you have any siblings, Sanji?” Vivi asked.

“Me? Yeah. Yeah, I have three brothers and one sister.”

“Wow! Are you sure you don’t want to write them, let them know you’re ok?”

Sanji shook his head. “Oh, no, I’m good thanks. They don’t care about that kind of thing, trust me.”

“You don’t get on well with your siblings?”

“...You could say that.”

Vivi frowned, but didn’t push the subject. For which Sanji was very grateful. He didn’t want to ruin his first time out of New York dwelling on his abysmal relationship with his family.

The train pulled away from the station a few minutes later. It was one of those gray, cloudy days that made all the colors in the world look a little dimmer, that threatened to snow and drench everything in white.

The circus members passed the time by swapping stories about where they had grown up. They speculated about the future. They folded paper planes out of Chopper’s spare paper, and threw them at each other. When one of the planes hit Zoro in the face and woke him up, they all pretended not to know who threw it. They told each other ghost stories (Perona, when she woke up, turned out to have some good ones). They sang whatever songs they knew, as loudly and off-key as they pleased. Someone gave Nami a newspaper he was finished with, and they argued just as loudly about politics.

Somewhere in all of that, Sanji supposed he must have forgotten to turn back for a last look at the life he was leaving behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, I am (unfortunately enough) a Southerner who has also never ridden a train, but this is what I imagine it's like. This fic is literally nothing but me drawing on pop culture references and quick google searches to support my ideal visions of what a travelling circus circa 1932 would really look like.
> 
> Thanks for reading chapter 9! (We will have, I think, two more. Probably.)


	10. Take One for the Team

“Sanji, where should we put these?”

Three young men stood in front of him, each carrying a large wooden crate.

“Um.” Sanji frowned, trying hard to channel his inner Shakuyaku. “Sorry, what are they for again?”

“They’re props, for melee group two.”

“Oh, ok. Uhhh...tell you what, why don’t you put them over there, out of the way for right now. Can one of you take a break from unloading to go find Zoro? He’ll know what to do with them.”

“Alright.”

They walked away in the direction he had pointed them, and Sanji let out a long breath. It had been a long, long day of raising tents and unloading cargo, but so far nothing had gone disastrously wrong.

Rayleigh and Shakuyaku had taken off sometime around noon, to ‘take care of the bureaucracy, you know how it is. Be back soon, Sanji’s in charge while we’re gone.’ Fortunately, it seemed that Sanji didn’t really need to do much beyond the occasional traffic direction.

Sanji leaned against a nearby tent support, taking at least some of the weight off his tired feet. He’d been on them all day long. Robin had offered to let him come along when she went grocery shopping later, and he really did want to go out for a closer look at Boston, but he was really tired and didn’t know if he was up to it after all…

“Hey pretty boy. Where are these rumored lost props at?”

“Oh, hi Zoro. They’re over there.”

“Ok. I’ll get ‘em taken care of.”

“Thank you. Actually, could you maybe show me where they go? Just so that this won’t happen again next ti-”

“Sanji!”

He turned his head at the sound of his name to see Nami, Luffy, and Usopp running towards where he and Zoro stood.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, a knot of dread forming in the pit of his stomach. “What’s happened?”

“It’s Ivankov,” Luffy explained, skidding to a stop. “He fell off one of the truck beds by accident.”

“He’s ok though,” Nami hurriedly assured Sanji, seeing the look on his face. “He just sprained his ankle is all. Chopper’s taking care of him.”

“But the thing is,” Usopp said, a little short of breath, “it was a bad sprain, man. He might not be able to perform for at least a few days.”

“Oh, no.” Sanji was beginning to panic. “D-does Robin know about this?”

“Yeah, she’s with him and Chopper now. She’s the one who sent us to tell you.”

“Oh. Ok. Ok, ok, ok. It’s fine. We’ll just...we’ll rearrange the order. Until he gets better. We’ll just change things up a bit, so that the show will still flow smoothly.”

“I don’t know about that,” Zoro put in. “We’ve got a fairly inexperienced light crew right now, and it’s always hard enough on them the first night in a new city. Changing the order is like asking for trouble.”

Sanji put his face in his hands. He was right. Maybe it would be possible with a well experienced general manager, but there was no way Sanji could make something like that happen. “Well, we can’t just cut him out altogether. It wouldn’t make sense that way. Nami, is your duet with Vivi ready for performance yet?”

Nami shook her head. “It needs at least another day or two of hard rehearsal.”

“We seriously don’t have _anyone_ who could fill in?”

Usopp shook his head. “We’re short-handed right now. Everyone who can perform is already on the schedule.”

“Then, what are we supposed to-”

“Zoro could do it.”

Sanji and Zoro both stared at Luffy.

“Um. Come again?”

“Luffy…”

“Oh my god, I totally didn’t think about that,” Nami said quietly. “He could.”

“Oh no he couldn’t,” Zoro said, eyes narrowing. “I know what you’re thinking. You know I don’t do that kind of thing anymore.”

“But Zoro-”

“Come on, we really need-”

“Just for a few shows-”

“I said no!”

Sanji blinked. He didn’t really know what was going on, but whatever it was, Zoro seemed pretty worked up about it.

“I don’t want to pressure you into doing something you don’t want to do,” he said cautiously. “But you said it yourself, we can’t really change the order. And we don’t have any other options. If you can do something, I would really appreciate it.”

“I...I don’t...I’m out of practice!”

“Bullshit,” Nami said flatly.

“The audience wouldn’t like it.”

“Also bullshit.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen you practice and it’s _amazing_.”

Zoro spluttered for another moment or so, but apparently wasn’t able to come up with any other excuses. Eventually he closed his mouth and took a long, deep breath.

“Alright. _Fine._ I’ll just go add myself to the schedule then, shall I?”

He spun on his heel and stalked away, shoulders hunched angrily.

“Thank you, Zoro,” Sanji called after him.

“Yeah, thanks Zoro!”

“Fuck off!”

Sanji turned to look at the others. “Does...someone want to tell me what just happened?”

 

Sanji didn’t see Zoro again until opening night. At first he thought he was just avoiding him out of annoyance. Then he began to worry that he was chickening out on them.

But then he was there, backstage, right on time. He had traded his usual tank top for some kind of green robe, tied at the waist with a red sash, and had taken off his eyepatch. With him he carried no less than three scabbarded swords.

“What,” he said, arms crossed.

“Nothing,” Sanji muttered, realizing he’d been staring. “Just...those aren’t dangerous, are they?”

“Of course they are, you idiot. They’re swords.”

“Well, yeah, but...I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Zoro snorted. “I won’t.”

“Aren’t you nervous?”

“Not really.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “How much did Nami tell you?”

Sanji grimaced but didn’t try to deny it. “She said you’re an orphan, and that you grew up in a dojo studying swordsmanship. And that when you left to make your own way, you fell on some hard times and had to sell everything you had just to survive. But you never gave up those swords.”

“She makes my life sound like some goddamn epic tragedy.”

“Why did you keep them?”

“Why do you always ask so many questions?”

“I’m just curious, jeez.”

Zoro shrugged, an irritated twitch of his shoulders. “I was going to start my own dojo. It was all I knew how to do, and it was what I wanted to do. It’s what I still want to do, someday. Maybe when this whole Depression thing blows over.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“Exactly none of it is your fault.”

“I’m not allowed to feel bad for you?”

“No.”

The audience beyond the ring suddenly burst into applause, signalling an end to the previous act.

“Stand back a little,” Sanji said, waving out a cue to cut the lights as the people who had been in the ring hurried backstage. “Hang on...ok, go.”

Zoro ducked past him, and when the lights came up again, he was standing alone in the middle of the ring. Sanji kept the tent flap ajar, watching anxiously.

As it turned out, he needn’t have worried. Zoro handled the swords expertly. If he looked a bit strange wielding all three at once, Sanji and the audience soon forgot to be bothered by it as he spun and slashed through the ring, cutting down invisible enemy after enemy, never leaving even the slightest opening. The three blades flashed under the bright lights.

It almost looked like a dance.

When Zoro left the ring amidst thunderous applause from the crowd, he was barely even breathing hard.

“Can I go now?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Alright. Bye.”

“Hey,” Sanji called out after him, wanting to say something about how much he’d liked the performance. Or to apologize for doubting his skills, because apparently Zoro really was as good as he said he was. Or how he hoped that one day Zoro would be able to have that dojo he wanted, because he clearly didn’t belong working backstage at a circus. But he realized that he didn’t really have the words to say any of that stuff.

“What?”

“...Nothing. Same time tomorrow night, don’t forget.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be here.”

“Thanks.”

Zoro raised his hand in acknowledgement. “‘Night.”

“Goodnight.”

 

Zoro gave three more performances before Ivankov was recovered enough to return to the ring. 

Sanji stood at the door and watched them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys will never guess who my all-time favorite One Piece character is. (It's Zoro. Somehow everything I set out to write always ends up being about him sooner or later.)
> 
> Only one more chapter of actual story! After that we'll have what I like to call an author's ending, which will not contain plot, but will contain a lot of personal headcanons, more detailed character designs/backstories for this au, and (of course) a list of songs for recommended listening. Hope you guys are looking forward to it!


	11. We Look After Our Own

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a content warning this chapter, concerning the general subject of past abuse. Proceed at your own discretion, please!

Their time in Boston seemed to practically fly by, and before Sanji knew it, they were packing up and preparing to go.

“Sanji, have you seen Luffy recently?”

“Yes, Hancock, as a matter of fact he said he was on his way to help Jinbei with the animals.”

“You called, Sanji?”

“Oh, Franky! Could you please help us with the support poles?”

“Sure I can, I know how heavy they are.”

“Sanji, where should I put this?”

“On the draft horse cart, please!”

“You’re getting really good at this,” Franky said, hoisting the poles over one shoulder.

“Pssht,” Sanji scoffed, waving his clipboard dismissively. “This is the easy part. I’ve still got a long way to go.”

“Yeah, but you’ve come a long way already. Wouldn’t you say so?”

“...Yeah, I guess so.”

“Sanji!”

“Yes, Chopper?”

“There’s a guy here who came looking for you.”

Sanji turned, opening his mouth to ask who it was, but froze in place when he saw the tall man following Chopper.

“No…”

Judge Vinsmoke pushed roughly past Chopper, an ugly sneer on his face. “Sanji,” he growled, “so this is where you’ve been hiding.”

“Y-you can’t be here,” Sanji stammered, taking a shaky step back.

“Cut the crap, Sanji. Come on, we’re leaving.”

“No!”

Judge narrowed his eyes threateningly. “ _What_ did you just say to me?” he said loudly.

Sanji winced reflexively, but held his ground. “N-no. I’m not going with you.”

“Like hell you’re not, boy!”

He took another step forward, but stopped short when Franky moved to block his path, hastily setting down his load of tent poles.

“Hey man, I don’t know what your deal is, but you can’t just come in here and act like that. Let’s talk this out, huh?”

“Get out of my way!”

The yelling was starting to attract attention. Around them, all movement slowed and finally stopped as the circus workers started to realize what was going on.

“Oh my god,” Nami muttered, dropping an armful of costumes unceremoniously on the ground.

“What should we do?” Luffy hissed, clearly torn between wanting to rush in and wanting to let Sanji deal with it, whatever ‘it’ was.

“Go get Robin,” Nami told him, making her mind up on the spot. Luffy nodded, turned, and ran as fast as he could. Nami squared her shoulders and moved towards the commotion.

“Stand back,” she murmured in Sanji’s ear, pulling him away from Franky and Judge’s heated argument.

“Nami…”

“It’s ok,” she said, putting herself between him and them. He was trembling, and clearly terrified. “It’s ok. Everything’s gonna be fine. Just let us handle this.” She put his hand in hers and held onto it tightly. After a moment, Chopper came sneaking around Franky’s legs to hold Sanji’s other hand.

Nami was beginning to understand why Sanji had run away to join the circus. She could see the resemblance between this angry stranger and Sanji, if she looked hard. It was a twisted resemblance, truly, but it was there.

“Just get the _fuck_ out of my way,” he snarled at Franky, hands balled into fists by his sides. “Or I swear to god I’ll-”

“That’s quite enough, Mr. Vinsmoke.”

Luffy had returned with not only Robin, but Zoro as well. Nami breathed a soft sigh of relief; surely, if anyone could handle this, Robin could.

She didn’t run. She strode towards them purposefully, her long legs carrying her quickly across the distance between them, but she did not run. Her face was set in a deadly serious expression, but she was calm.

Sanji’s father seemed thrown off by her sudden appearance. “Do I know you?”

“No,” said Robin simply, motioning for Franky, Luffy, and Zoro to keep behind her. “But I know all about you, Mr. Vinsmoke. I’ll be clear: you are not welcome here. I think it would be in your best interests to leave now.”

Judge bared his teeth and glowered down at Robin. “Woman, I don’t know who you think you are, but I came here to get my son back, and no one is going to stop me. Not you, and not anyone else.”

Luffy stood with his arms crossed, glowering right back at Judge as if he wasn’t half the man’s size. Zoro had evidently, for some reason, thought it was a good idea to bring his swords. His hand rested on one of the three hilts, ready to draw at a moment’s notice. They didn’t seem to feel Nami glaring at them from behind, silently warning them not to make the situation worse.

“You have no authority here,” Robin said, sounding just as calm as always. “Sanji is one of us now, and if he doesn’t wish to go with you, then he shall not be going with you. It’s as simple as that. Sanji, do you want to leave with this man?”

Sanji shook his head, holding onto Chopper and Nami like his life depended on it. “No.”

“Do you want to stay here, with us?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then, there you have it, Mr. Vinsmoke.”

“He’s my _son_ , you bitch. I have the fucking authority to do whatever I want with him.”

“Thinking like that is exactly why we aren’t going to let you take him.”

Judge was stunned speechless for a moment. “Wh...how dare y-”

“Listen Mr. Vinsmoke, I sincerely hope you’re smart enough to realize that resorting to violence here would end poorly.” Behind her, Luffy, Franky, and Zoro each took a menacing step forward. “For you, that is. Make no mistake. But it doesn’t have to go that far.”

“You stupid bit-”

“Make no mistake on this score either: if you attempt in any way to take him by force, we will not hesitate to press charges.”

Judge barked a laugh at that. It was a harsh, mirthless laugh that made Sanji shudder.

“Charges? You want to take this to court, do you? You’re nothing but a filthy bunch of vagabonds, the lot of you! You wouldn’t stand a chance!”

“Oh, quite the contrary, Mr. Vinsmoke. I assure you, we have nothing to hide. Unlike you, that is.”

Judge stopped laughing. “What are you talking about?”

“I already told you, did I not? I know all about you. And I mean _all_ about you. Are you sure it would be wise to invite any sort of legal scrutiny into your business dealings, Mr. Vinsmoke?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Oh, don’t I?” Robin held up a hand and started counting off items on her fingers. “False advertising, inasmuch as product quality is concerned. Your company is in violation of not only child labor regulations, but also overtime pay mandates and safety regulations. The working conditions in your factories are dangerously poor, Mr. Vinsmoke. Frequent bribery, of both a political and private nature. Money laundering. Shall I go on?”

By this point, Judge’s face was bright red, and there was a vein standing out in his temple. He appeared to be stunned speechless by Robin’s extensive knowledge of his corrupt business dealings.

“You...you can’t prove anything, you circus freaks!”

“Are you really willing to take that chance?” Robin leaned in. “I’m a certified lawyer, Mr. Vinsmoke. And I’d be more than happy to take this to court myself. Go on, really. Take one more step, and see what happens.”

Judge sputtered incoherently for a moment, then snarled wordlessly and stamped a foot like an angry rhino.

“You can’t do this! Don’t you know who I am!”

“Haven’t you been listening? I know exactly who you are. You’re a dirty, ignorant, belligerent, abusive degenerate son of a bitch. I’ll reiterate; you’re not welcome here. Now go away.”

“Yeah, go away!” Luffy shouted, shaking his fist at Judge.

“And never come back!” Nami added.

Sanji didn’t say anything. He just stared at his father while more and more people stepped in and hollered insults. He wasn’t afraid any longer. The circus had given him his courage back, had given him determination and strength and something worth fighting for, and he wanted Judge to _see_ it.

And, apparently, he did. Because after a moment or two, he turned and stormed out of the circus tent amidst a hail of jeers and threats.

Only when he was fully out of sight did Sanji fully relax, and then only for a moment- before he knew it Chopper was sobbing into his shins, Robin’s hands were all over him searching for wounds, and Luffy was hugging him so tight it hurt. Everyone was talking at once and he was holding back tears and it was all just a mess.

“I’m ok,” he said, and Robin sighed, visibly relieved. “That hurts, Luffy, get off me.”

“You’re sure?”

“He didn’t touch me, Robin, really.” Sanji gently pried Luffy and Chopper away from him. “Thank you for...what you said, for everything. But, how did you…?”

“Oh sweetie, did you really think I wouldn’t do my research on you before letting you join us? Of course I looked into you, and your family.”

“But...but...how?”

“I have my sources,” she said cryptically, winking. “But enough about that, are you really sure you’re alright, after all that?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Ok. Everyone, listen up,” she called, clapping her hands. “If you’ll all recall, we have a camp to dismantle and a train to catch in the morning. Look sharp, please! Plenty of time to relax once we’ve left this place behind.”

The crowd began to disperse, and slowly but surely the work resumed.

“Sanji, you take the rest of the day off, I’ll-”

“No, I can work!”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” Sanji smiled, resettling his clipboard in his arms. “It’s the least I can do, after all.”

Robin smiled back. The same smile she had given him on the night they’d met, that let him know she had been where he’d been, and that she understood.

“In that case, I expect tear down to be finished by dinnertime. Look alive, manager Sanji, you’ve got your work cut out for you.”

“Yes ma’am!”

Sanji took a deep, deep breath. He could hardly believe what had just happened. He’d never seen anyone stand up to his father before. He’d never had anyone stand up for _him_ before.

He supposed this was what having a real family felt like.

 

Their next stop was in Portland. They didn’t arrive at their campsite until late, and hence didn’t get everything unloaded until well past sunset. The weather was snowy and miserable, too.

But Sanji was still in too good of a mood to be bothered by any of that. He stayed up late, talking around a campfire with Brook and a few other members of the band, telling stories and listening to their jokes.

It must have been past midnight when, suddenly, a young woman appeared out of the darkness, approaching them hesitantly. Her hair was a mess, and she wore only a thin, torn coat and no shoes. She looked freezing.

“E-excuse me...is this the circus’ c-camp?”

“Yes,” said Sanji, hurriedly rising to his feet. “Who are you?”

“My name is Charlotte. B-but everyone calls me...Pudding.” She looked close to tears. “I want to join you. P-please, I’ll do anything.”

“Hey, hey, don’t cry.” Sanji pulled off his own coat and draped it around her shoulders. “Let’s get you inside, where it’s warm.”

She looked up at him, seemingly hardly daring to believe what she was hearing.

“You...m-mean it?”

“Of course I do.” Sanji gave her his biggest, warmest grin.

“Welcome to Roger’s Flying Safari Circus.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been waiting to write this scene FOREVER. I'm not sure I did the best job of portraying what was in my head, but nevertheless I'm really glad to have it done and out there, finally.
> 
> THANK YOU FOR READING THIS FIC, DEAR READERS! Thank you for sticking with me through the ups and downs of a busy semester, and for going all the lovely feedback! I couldn't have made it this far without you. Reminder, I will be posting an author's ending for this one, which will probably be up sometime tomorrow. If you're interested in that kind of thing, please be sure to check it out! Thanks again!!!


	12. (Author's Ending)

Hello friends! Quick reminder, this 'chapter' isn't really a continuation of the story, it's just a place for me to put down some thoughts and headcanons about this au that I didn't really have a place for in the actual story. My name is M and I'll be your tour guide this evening (or morning, or afternoon, I don't know when you're reading this).

Let's get started, shall we?

**Worldbuilding**

I originally imagined this story taking place circa early 1932, just before the presidential election. But then I realized that, at the very beginning I had stated that it was already November, since I liked the idea of all these events going down in winter. So I revised my opinion to late 1931, which is not that much of a difference, really.

For those of you who aren't particularly familiar with American history, a quick recap: Herbert Hoover was president for the majority of the Great Depression, from 1929- March of '33. Hoover believed strongly in laissez faire government (little to no govt interference in daily life), which means that his administration did very little to address the economic situation in the US. He lost the election by a landslide margin to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR didn't think like Hoover at all. He devoted a huge amount of resources to fixing up the economy, greatly enlarging and strengthening the federal govt in the process. Now, I'm by no means a historian OR a politician- I'm just a humble musician- but if you want my opinion? FDR did more towards ending the GD in the first 100 days of his presidency than Hoover did in his entire time in office. 

The GD itself was the single worst economic crisis basically ever. And it wasn't unique to the US- it was a global thing. It was horrible. It wasn't until FDR's so called 'New Deal' that minimum working age and minimum wages even became a thing. Not to mention, there was also rampant racism and sexism at that time- yes, it was worse than it is now. Much worse. Immigrants and African Americans were treated incredibly badly, and though women earned the right to vote in 1920, they were far from getting equal treatment, especially in the workforce.

Additionally- Prohibition was still in effect for most of the GD. Again, for those unfamiliar- Prohibition was this silly phase America went through from 1920-33, in which the sale, production, transportation, and consumption of alcohol was totally illegal. This did not stop people drinking, of course, but they had to make their own booze and drink it in secret. Prohibition didn't end until FDR.

So! At the time that this story takes place, everything is in shambles and you can't even go out drinking to forget about it for a night. Seriously, people were beginning to wonder if the depression would ever end, or if this was just The Way It Is Now. Hence why the circus being inclusive of all types/taking in refugees/charging low entrance fees is all such important stuff. It's a haven for those who don't really fit in anywhere else. And that includes all skin tones and genders. I just wanted to make that clear, because in any other setting in the 1930's Nami and Robin and Vivi wouldn't have been able to have that kind of casual relationship with the men, and Usopp and Brook probably wouldn't have even been a part of the equation at all.

**Characters**

Luffy grew up in Virginia, near the coast, with Garp and his brothers. Garp is this grizzled war veteran who really wanted the kids he somehow ended up being responsible for to follow in his footsteps and enlist- this Did Not happen. After Ace and Sabo both left home and Luffy was the only one left, Garp was really hard on him, really pushing for him to join the military. And for a while Luffy was like "well, might as well, since I don't really know what else I could do anyway : /". 

But then the circus came to town. Well, not their tiny little town. The nearest city. He begged his grandpa for days to take him to see it, and Garp finally caved. Luffy made up his mind right then, sitting in the audience and watching the show, that he wanted to do that. So he did. He hopped on the back of the wagon the next day, and that was that.

Garp knows full well where Luffy is. He's given up on trying to get him to come back. Same with Ace and Sabo, although he has less of a clear idea of what those two are up to nowadays. (The reason for that being, it's all highly illegal and they know he would never approve, so they don't tell him)

Zoro is pretty much just Zoro. You can't really change Zoro, can you? Not that I would want to if I could. I adore Zoro. He was born and raised in Philadelphia, and when he joined the circus he had nothing to his name but the shirt on his back and the three swords he refused to give up. It took a long time for him to really warm up to the idea of being a circus worker for an indefinite amount of time, but he's over that now.

I have this half-formed idea that he's kind of the circus' unofficial bodyguard- like, he's always on guard, always ready to throw down with anyone who thinks they might be able to sneak into their camp at night and make off with the day's profits. He's also always ready to throw down with anybody who even looks at them wrong while they're out shopping or whatever. He still has all that pride of his, and an insult to one of the circus members is an insult to him. He's a stupid arrogant jerk, and I love him with my whole heart.

Nami is the closest thing to a rebellious teen that the 30's really had to offer- short hair, short skirts, "Anything you can do, I can do better" attitude. If she hadn't joined the circus she probably still would have ended up a performer- in a high end club, or something of the like. But she wouldn't have enjoyed it, dressing up and dancing for the rich while the poor starve in the streets. She's very politically informed, and has a strong opinion about everything, but too hot of a temper to do much of anything about anything.

I never had a chance to bring this up in the story, but Nami _definitely_ has tattoos. Tattoos from the 30's are really cool, and you should look them up if you get the chance. Very monochromatic, but that's compensated for by a distinct intricacy. None of Nami's are visible when she's wearing her dance costume, but she loves showing them off and makes sure everyone knows about them.

Usopp grew up in Mississippi, on the river. He joined the circus kind of by accident- ducked into a tent one night while on the run from some white men who were chasing him for no real reason, and accidentally tripped over Rayleigh, who was sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor. But it worked itself out- Rayleigh got rid of the racists, and even offered to let Usopp stay, if he wanted.

Luffy and Usopp actually joined up at about the same time. No one taught them the art of trapeze flying- they taught themselves. There was a lot of falling and a few mild concussions along the way, but they're extremely proud of their act and they work hard to keep in shape and to please the crowds.

Sanji was a straight A student, a quiet and mature-seeming little kid, never misbehaved. But that was never good enough for his father, of course. Running away from home was a spur of the moment decision, one he began to second-guess the moment he was out the door. But it turned out to be the right decision, after all.

Fun fact: about 5 chapters were already published before I finally settled on a job for him. I thought maybe he could be an acrobat, or a stylist like Oda-sensei says he'd be in a modern setting, or a chef like in canon. But I don't know anything about any of that. So I decided to draw from my personal experience as a stage manager at my university, which seems like a job Sanji would definitely be cut out for anyway. Please make sure to plan your stories out beforehand, kids, don't be like me.

Chopper moved to America from Canada, to live with Dr. Kureha after his first guardian died. But Kureha's not really the best babysitter, and so she asked Rayleigh to look after him as a personal favor (you can't convince me they don't know each other, ok, they definitely know each other).

I have always headcanoned human Chopper with dwarfism! Here's a website I found helpful when doing more research about that: https://medlineplus.gov/dwarfism.html Educate yourselves, dudes.

Robin. Ohhh, Robin. Listen, if there's one thing you have to understand about Robin, it's that she's a woman of many talents. She fills many roles at the circus, chiefly her stage magician's act. Most of which is performed in complete silence, by the way- no use of talking as a means of misdirection or distraction. When asked how she does it she'll just smile and wink.

She was actually born in Mexico- she crossed the border when she was like 8, 100% illegally. She lived in Texas for a long time after that, which is where she picked up the habit of calling everybody 'honey' and 'sweetie' all the time. Most of what she said to Judge in that last chapter was greatly exaggerated, but not a complete lie- she did attend law school, but never finished it. She got all that dirt on him by calling Aokiji and asking "hey, so what's the deal with this Vinsmoke guy, do the police have anything on him?" And she would in fact have been very reluctant to go to court against Judge, because not only is the circus harboring dozens of runaways and refugees, but Robin herself still has warrants out for her arrest in several states for various reasons, none of which her coworkers know anything about. The hero we don't deserve, Nico Robin. Man I love her.

Franky is pretty straightforward, really. Like it says, he made his living making movie props in LA for a while. But his specialty has always run more towards lasers and tanks, so, there was only so long that could last, realistically.

A few years ago on America's Got Talent, there was a bodybuilder who made it pretty far. He did more than just show off his muscles, though, he also told jokes and stuff. That's how I imagine Franky's act going. If I find a video of it I'll post a link, promise.

Brook is about 45, the age he first died in canon. He's actually from NY, just like Sanji- specifically, Harlem. That's right guys gals and nonbinary pals, Brook was part of the cultural revolution that was the Harlem Renaissance! He spent most of his life surrounded by music, poetry, and art of a truly unique nature. His primary musical genre is jazz, arguably the only truly American genre out there (and you can fight me on that one).

The music he writes/arranges for the circus is tailored specifically for the show they're putting on that night. It's a great sound, in my head. I guess you'll just have to take my word about that.

Jinbei is a big tall dude with killer sideburns who used to work for the govt- but he disagreed with Hoover's politics pretty adamantly, and he got fired. Desperate for work, he searched out Rayleigh, and has been with the circus ever since.

The animals Jinbei cares for are all named after actual characters. In case you didn't catch the references: Richie is the name of Buggy's lion, Pierre is the polka-dotted horse from Skypoeia, Pell is the falcon guy from Alabasta, Monet is the harpy woman from Dofflamingo's crew, and the black cat was supposed to represent Captain Kuro, the black cat guy with the claws!

**Recommended Listening**

Music in America in the 1920's and '30's is an incredibly fascinating subject. As a college music kid with a passion for both music education and music history, I can't help but say a little bit about it. Jazz was obviously the biggest influence at the time. But there was also broadway, nationalistic tunes made popular during WWI, and heavy influence by European traditions. At this point nearly every household had a radio, so music was much more accessible. I highly encourage you to do some more research into it if you have time- listen to some old old recordings, look at some pictures, all that stuff!

That being said. I also have other, more modern recs for you, provided by my ever-active madd, that pertain specifically to this fic. With links for your convenience!

It would be absolutely remiss of me not to recommend you 'Circus' by Britney Spears (classic that it is): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVhJ_A8XUgc

'We No Speak Americano' from Tu Vuò Fa' L'Americano (the original, not the remix you might know): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30HsgKTkQ68

'Show Goes On' by Lupe Fiasco (because the fic is called On With the Show, get it?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmp6zIr5y4U

'Lone Digger' by Caravan Palace (because it has that weird vibe of modernized 20's jazz): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbQgXeY_zi4

'Back it Up' by Caro Emerald (for the same reason): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo1cyl0QbWo

'Booty Swing' by Parov Stelar (for yet the same reason): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvvviZ3gZXM

'Where is Your Heart At?' by Rufus Wainwright (yes, the one from Meet the Robinsons): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j32plFjfRqg

'Runaways' by All Time Low (just because I really like it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1X7YLJBtLk

'We Are Golden' by Mika (painfully accurate): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEhutIEUq8k

**Additional Miscellany**

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments for me, allow me to direct you to the, well, the aptly named comment section down below! Thank you again to all those who have already commented, your words fuel my continued enthusiasm for writing.

I'm also pretty active on tumblr! Follow me at https://highly-opinionated-nerd.tumblr.com/ for notifications whenever I write something new, and assorted other interests. (No one ever talks to me on tumblr and I'm lonelyyyyy :' c )

I still can't thank you guys enough for reading this fic! And especially sticking around for the author's ending, you guys are dedicated. I had fun with this one and I'm thrilled to have been able to finish it (late is better than never, yeah?). I love each and every one of you very much, and hope you have a great day!!!


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